November 14, 2012

What kind of screenplays are the Hollywood studios looking for?

What kinds of scripts are the Hollywood studios looking for?
How much hope is there for a newer writer to sell a script there or get hired
to write one?

Long-time movie critic David Denby recently revealed his view on the subject in the
New Yorker:

“The six major studios want to make three kinds of
movies. They want to make blockbusters costing a hundred and fifty million
dollars and up (with another fifty to a hundred million dollars spent on
promotion)—that is, films that are based on comic books, video games, and
young-adult novels. These movies mostly feature angry pixels contending in the
dead air—action sequences of total physical abandonment and virtually total
meaninglessness, in which nothing imprints itself on your memory except the
experience of being excited.

They want to make animated features for families, some
of which—especially the ones from Pixar—are very good.

And they want to make genre movies—thrillers, chick
flicks, romantic comedies, weekend-debauch movies (female as well as male),
horror movies.”

There you have it. It confirms my feeling that writers
interested in making solid dramas and non-slapstick comedies will increasingly find their future in digital, lower-budget films
that will be distributed mainly via the internet, as well as HBO, Showtime, and some of the other cable outfits. Here in the UK, some recent changes in the tax laws should help free up some investment in independent films.

Comments

What kinds of scripts are the Hollywood studios looking for?
How much hope is there for a newer writer to sell a script there or get hired
to write one?

Long-time movie critic David Denby recently revealed his view on the subject in the
New Yorker:

“The six major studios want to make three kinds of
movies. They want to make blockbusters costing a hundred and fifty million
dollars and up (with another fifty to a hundred million dollars spent on
promotion)—that is, films that are based on comic books, video games, and
young-adult novels. These movies mostly feature angry pixels contending in the
dead air—action sequences of total physical abandonment and virtually total
meaninglessness, in which nothing imprints itself on your memory except the
experience of being excited.

They want to make animated features for families, some
of which—especially the ones from Pixar—are very good.

And they want to make genre movies—thrillers, chick
flicks, romantic comedies, weekend-debauch movies (female as well as male),
horror movies.”

There you have it. It confirms my feeling that writers
interested in making solid dramas and non-slapstick comedies will increasingly find their future in digital, lower-budget films
that will be distributed mainly via the internet, as well as HBO, Showtime, and some of the other cable outfits. Here in the UK, some recent changes in the tax laws should help free up some investment in independent films.